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LEXICAL COMPETENCE UNDERLYING SECOND LANGUAGE WORD ASSOCIATION TASKS

EXAMINING THE CONSTRUCT VALIDITY OF RESPONSE TYPE AND RESPONSE TIME MEASURES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2021

Masaki Eguchi Open the ORCID record for Masaki Eguchi [Opens in a new window] ,
Shungo Suzuki Open the ORCID record for Shungo Suzuki [Opens in a new window]  and
Yuichi Suzuki Open the ORCID record for Yuichi Suzuki [Opens in a new window]
Masaki Eguchi*
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Shungo Suzuki
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
Yuichi Suzuki
Affiliation:
Kanagawa University
*
*E-mail: masakie@uoregon.edu
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Abstract

This study investigated the constructs underlying second language (L2) word association (WA) with regard to three dimensions of lexical competence—size, organization, and accessibility—and the lexical performance of speech. One-hundred and thirteen Japanese learners of English completed a computer-delivered oral WA task along with three vocabulary tasks: a form-recall gap-filling task (size), a primed lexical decision task (organization and accessibility), and an oral cartoon narrative (lexical richness). Regression analyses explored how well these lexical competence and performance scores predicted two WA outcome variables: response profiles and response times. Form-recall vocabulary knowledge, (collocational) priming, and lexical richness explained a large amount of variance in WA response type profiles (Nagelkerke’s pseudo R2 = .901). Form-recall vocabulary knowledge and lexical decision time explained 28.5% of the variance of WA response times. A three-stage model of L2 WA task performance is proposed to account for the constructs underlying WA performance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 112 - 142
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We are grateful to Studies in Second Language Acquisition reviewers as well as the journal editors Luke Plonsky and Susan Gass for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of the manuscript, and to SSLA editorial assistant, Lizz Huntley, for the assistance during the review process. Our thanks go to Takumi Uchihara and Kaori Sugita for their help on data collection and coding. We would also like to thank Kazuya Saito, George Smith, and J-SLARF members for their insightful comments. This study was funded by the EIKEN Research Assistance Program awarded to the first and second authors from the EIKEN Foundation of Japan.

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